Week 8 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings - Standard Leagues

Another good week from the WR position in week 7. At the top we saw the resurgence of T.Y. Hilton, and Mike Evans. Not too far behind them we have rookies Amari Cooper and Stefon Diggs. And rounding out the top ten last week there was Julio Jones, Allen Robinson, and Calvin Johnson. That makes 7 of the top 10 who were projected to do well, meaning we are starting to get some stability back into the position. This week we have yet another London game, meaning you may have to wake up early if you own someone on either the Lions or Chiefs who is a game-time decision (Jeremy Maclin). Consistency will take you far in my rankings, and if you have a great matchup to go with it, all the better. If you need a desperate play, then find a player who may be more boom or bust to take that chance. I personally am risk adverse, and I feel my rankings reflect that. Once again we have four teams on a bye week, but unlike last week, only one team we were going to be starting a receiver from.

Teams on Bye: Bills, Eagles, Jaguars, Redskins

Antonio Brown - It looks like Ben Roethlisberger will be making his return this week. Brown owners everywhere can now feel confident in Brown to be that top guy they drafted again. The top three this week was close for me, but the matchup for Jones, and the volume for Hopkins narrowly put them ahead of Brown for me. The window has now passed with this to try and buy low on Brown. I expect to see a game reminiscent of 2014 out of him here against the Bengals.

Stefon Diggs - Before I sat down and went through ranking the guys, I didn't expect to come out of it saying Diggs is top 13 this week, but then it happened. While in no way do I think Diggs is top 13 the rest of the season, the matchup this week is almost as good as it can get for him. The Bears have done a bad job containing receivers this year. If you have watched any of Diggs tape so far you would be impressed by his advanced route running and athletic ability. Diggs could end up being a waiver wire steal as I think he will be in or around my top 20 the rest of the season.

Amari Cooper - Is Amari Cooper matchup proof? If the answer to that question is yes, then ranking Cooper 18th is too low for him. I think that Cooper is on the right track to being matchup proof at this point, but need to see another solid game here to be sure of it. I love Cooper's skills, and think he can easily be in that class of players. Carr has been doing his job getting Cooper the ball, and the offense as a whole has looked competent. That is key, as it is making it tough for defenses to key on Cooper, and try to minimize his impact in games. Cooper could find himself up even higher next week with a solid effort.

Jeremy Maclin - So Maclin was cleared to play last week, but the Chiefs still held him out. This tells me that the Chiefs were not confident he was actually at 100%, and makes me wonder if he will even play this week. With the Chiefs traveling to London, that makes me even more weary of his situation. That is why he is mid 20's for me this week, and could see him back near the top 20 after the bye week and he is fully healthy.

Michael Floyd - He has now scored in two straight weeks. This isn't so much about his value, but what he is taking away from Fitzgerald and Brown. By being healthy now, and Palmer spreading the ball, the upside is limited for all cardinal pass catchers. Floyd makes a high risk high reward play in leagues if that is what you want out of your FLEX spot. Other then that, you shouldn't be looking to start him. Monitor this situation going forward, as one injury to Fitzgerald or Brown would boost Floyd up quite a bit in my rankings going forward, so he may be a guy to stash if you have the room.

Golden Tate - This ranking goes to show how I feel about Tate this week, and for the rest of the season. Even in the best matchup possible for him, he can't even crack my top 40. Tate just isn't getting the production, and if you can try to trade him for almost anything at this point, you should accept. Nothing to see here with him, but when you have to rank 50 guys, and he has a great matchup, he has to slip into the top 50 like Andre Johnson did. If you are looking to trade him, go find the Calvin Johnson owner and try to sell him Tate as a handcuff for Johnson.